Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
Once a definition has been established it is not directly entered into memory. Students need multiple
opportunities over an extended period of time to encounter the new term in a variety of normal contexts.
They need to read, hear, write, and speak it, so that the word is internalized and becomes part of their usable
vocabularies.
In content vocabulary instruction, there are at least four factors to keep in mind when making instructional
decisions:
 the students we are teaching,
 the nature of the words we decide to teach,
 our instructional purposes in teaching each of those words,
 the strategies we employ to teach the words.
Effective Content Vocabulary Instruction in the Middle: Matching Students, Purposes, Word and Strategies Author(s): Kevin Flanigan and Scott C. Greenwood
Level 1 (critical "before" words)
Level 1 words are words that meet the following criteria:
• They are absolutely essential to under-standing the passage
• They represent concepts of which students need an in-depth understanding before reading to successfully
navigate the passage and construct meaning.
Teachers must be willing and able to devote 15-20 minutes or more (sometimes much more) to explicitly
teach and guide students toward understanding the concepts before reading. These words are few in number
and represent new concepts or known concepts that need to be developed much more fully and broadly.
Examples from science and social studies might include photosynthesis, ecosystem, separation of powers, and
civil rights movement.
Level 2 ("foot-in-the-door" words)
Like Level 1 words, Level 2 words are also critical to understanding the text; however, students only need a
basic," foot-in-the-door" understanding of these words to successfully get the gist of a passage. Like Level 1
words, these "foot-in-the-door" words should be few in number and need to be dealt with up front. However,
in contrast to Level 1 words, these words require only a short amount of instructional time. We identify two
subtypes of "foot-in-the-door" words:
• New label/new concept words. For new Level 2 words that represent unfamiliar concepts, we have found
that simply providing the students with a clear definition of the word and a sentence with rich surrounding
context is usually enough (see Graves, Juel, & Graves, 2004). For example, before reading a social studies
chapter on settling the Great Plains, the students may only need to know that a homesteader is one who
settled on free land provided by the government. The teacher can go into more depth about homesteaders
after the reading if warranted. • New words/familiar concepts. For new words that represent familiar
concepts, simply providing the synonym or definition for the word often accomplishes the job. In a passage
about the life cycle of a butterfly, the students may only need to understand that the word metamorphosis
means" to change in form."Later, after reading, the class can explore this word more deeply as needed or as
time warrants.
Level 3 (critical "after" words)
Level 3 words represent concepts that the teacher decides are important for the student to know on some
level; however, the student does not have to necessarily understand them before reading to successfully
construct meaning from the reading. These words can be dealt with during reading (particularly if reading the
passage together with a small group as a class) or after the reading. Level 3 words fall into the following four
categories:
• Content words that don't need to be fully understood before reading to get the gist of the passage, but that
can be addressed after-ward.
• Content words that are defined clearly and explicitly in the text. (For example, veto is defined clearly in one
social studies text as to "refuse to sign"; in a science passage on weather fog is clearly defined, in context, as a
cloud at ground level). Again, these words can be discussed more deeply, beyond the textbook definition,
after reading.
• High-utility words that a student will likely see in other settings- in other texts, in other academic
disciplines, or in life (e.g., plague, fugitive, serene).
• Words that can be used to teach "preciseness of language" (e.g., the author uses the word lope instead of
run).
Level 4 (words not to teach) Just as important as knowing which words to choose, a teacher should know on
which words not to spend valuable planning and instructional time. Characteristics of Level4 words include
the following:
• Words the students probably already know. Although this may seem obvious, we are surprised at the words
identified by publishers as critical in some texts (e.g., in one literature basal we found must ache, fault, and
gym identified as vocabulary words deemed worthy of direct instruction). We realize that these Level 4 words
vary depending on each student's back-ground and needs (e.g., an English- Language Learner may need to
spend time on words that a native language speaker al-ready knows).
• Words that do not serve the teacher's instructional goal. Sometimes our instructional goals may differ from
the textbook author's goals. If so, the teacher should not feel constrained to spend instructional time on key
terms that are highlighted in the textbook, but that do not serve the goals of his or her lesson.
• Words with rich surrounding context from which the student can infer the meaning. For example, in one
U.S. history textbook, antebellum was briefly defined as "before the Civil war."T his was all the reader needed
to know about this word to under-stand the sentence and the larger concepts in the passage. In the same
textbook, religious revival was described in such clear and rich detail that it could stand alone without much
additional instruction. (S. Kletzien, personal communication, November 2005)
Considerations when teaching Vocabulary
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Stimulate students' interest in and awareness of words
Begin by working out what you want students to know
Make it a regular activity
Teach more by teaching less (2 -4 words per lesson)
Multiple exposure to new vocabulary (12 - 18 times)
Teach synonyms, antonyms, and alternate meanings of words
Teach specialized vocabulary in the content areas
Show students what to do when they come across new words